Waverlee
A surname variant of Waverley meaning "undulating meadow."
Name Census estimates that about 80 living Americans carry the first name Waverlee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Waverlee today is around 5 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Waverlee births was 2022 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Waverlee. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Waverlee. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
80
~ 1 in 4,284,429 Americans
Peak year
2022
15 babies that year
Average age
5
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,375
Tracked since 2016
Popularity
Waverlee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Waverlee from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 53 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Waverlee by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Waverlee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Waverlee
The name Waverlee has its roots in the Old English language, originating as a combination of the words "wafer" and "leah." The word "wafer" referred to a wanderer or traveler, while "leah" meant a meadow or clearing in a forest. This indicates that the name may have initially been used to describe someone who lived or traveled through open meadows or wooded areas.
During the Anglo-Saxon period in England, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th century, names with similar elements were commonly used. The earliest recorded instance of a name resembling Waverlee appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, where a landowner named "Waefreleah" is mentioned as holding property in what is now Norfolk.
The name Waverlee gained popularity among the nobility and landed gentry of medieval England. In the 13th century, a knight named Sir Waverlee de Montfort fought alongside Simon de Montfort, the renowned leader of the baronial rebellion against King Henry III. De Montfort's bravery and loyalty to his cause earned him recognition in contemporary chronicles.
In the 15th century, a Waverlee Fitzherbert was recorded as a member of the household staff of King Edward IV. Fitzherbert's role as a trusted servant to the monarch suggests that the name was still in use among the upper echelons of society during this period.
Moving forward to the Renaissance era, a notable figure with the name Waverlee was the English poet and playwright Waverlee Donne, born in 1572. Donne's poetic works, such as "The Flea" and "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," are considered among the finest examples of metaphysical poetry from the early 17th century.
Another historical figure bearing the name Waverlee was the Scottish philosopher and economist Waverlee Smith, who lived from 1723 to 1790. Smith's seminal work, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," laid the foundations of modern economic theory and is considered one of the most influential books ever written on the subject of economics.
As the name Waverlee evolved over the centuries, it underwent various spelling variations, including Waverlea, Waverly, and Waverleigh. However, the core meaning and essence of the name, derived from its Old English roots, have remained largely unchanged, symbolizing a connection to the natural world and a sense of wanderlust or exploration.
People
Waverlee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Waverlee as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Waverlee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Waverlee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 80 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Waverlee going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 4,284,429 US residents.
Is Waverlee a common name?
We classify Waverlee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 80 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Waverlee most popular?
The single biggest year for Waverlee was 2022, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Waverlee is about 5 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Waverlee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Waverlee in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.